On August 1, 2016, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed “An Act to Establish Pay Equity (the Act)” into law. The Act, which does not become effective until July 1, 2018, will require Massachusetts employers to pay men and women equally for comparable work. It also forbids employers from asking prospective employees about salary history or restricting employee discussion of pay. The Act imposes significant consequences for
violations of the law.

The Act will make it unlawful for employers to pay unequal wages to employees of different genders who perform comparable work. The Act broadly defines wages to include “all forms of remuneration for employment.”

Yesterday afternoon, the Massachusetts House of Representatives unanimously approved bill H. 4434 which restricts
employee noncompetition agreements. This bill has key modifications from original proposals that are important to be aware of, including the “garden leave” clause. The issue will now be headed to the Senate, which has previously been a supporter of noncompete reform.

Share this via:

For the past eight years, legislative efforts to reform post-employment noncompetion agreements in Massachusetts have failed. But this year, House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo has signaled his support for H. 4323 and there is buzz that a non-compete bill mayland on Gov. Baker’s desk before the legislative session ends in July.

This bill entitled, “Massachusetts Noncompetition Act” has eight key components in order for a noncompetition agreement to be valid and enforceable. If H. 4323 is enacted, employers will have to quickly and carefully revise their employee restrictive agreements to comply with the new law.

By: Sandra E. Kahn
There is an ever-increasing array of regulation on employment practices at the state and federal level. But when do growing businesses become covered under the employment laws of these jurisdictions?

It’s all in the employee numbers: Six, Fifteen, Twenty, Fifty, One Hundred. For example, when a business has six employees, the company becomes covered by the MA Fair Employment Practices Act but then at fifteen, it also comes under the federal laws of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As the company grows, different regulations come and go and it is critical to be aware of it in order to maintain legal compliance.

On May 18, 2016, President Obama announced the publication of the U.S. Department of
Labor’s final rule (“Final Rule”) updating the overtime regulations, and providing that employees who earn less than $47,476 annually will be entitled to overtime.

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) “white collar” exemptions are familiar to most employers. Under the FLSA, employees must be paid the minimum amount required by the statute on a salary basis, and the employee’s job duties must primarily involve executive, administrative, or professional duties. The Final Rule changes only the salary basis test, leaving in place the existing duties test.

For more details, read our full alert and visit our Employment Law Group page.

The new Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA) is expected to be signed into law by President Obama. The Act will allow claims for trade secret theft to be brought under a federal civil cause of action.

Under certain circumstances, the Act will provide protection for whistleblowers who divulge trade secrets to the government in order to report wrongdoing. As such, employers will now have to inform their employees of that protection in any agreement or contract. It is advised that employers consult with their counsel to revise contracts as necessary.

For a more detailed explanation of the DTSA, read the full post on our Good Company blog.

As music and beer flow freely this St. Patrick’s Day, employers have good reason to be aware of what “shenanigans” their employees may be up to.

Employers already know that sexual harassment in the workplace is illegal and can result in liability, but employers should also know that under some circumstances sexual harassment outside of the workplace can result in employer liability. Employers are liable for the harassment of employees by managers and persons with supervisory authority, regardless of whether the employer knows of the conduct. Employers are also responsible for harassment committed by non-supervisory employees where the employer knew or should have known about the harassing conduct and failed to take prompt, effective, and reasonable remedial action. As a result, an employer could find itself facing a claim for harassment based on conduct outside the workplace.

The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) uses the following factors to assess whether conduct outside the workplace constitutes sexual harassment under M.G.L. c. 151B for which an employer is liable:

whether the event at which the conduct occurred is linked to the workplace in any way, such as at an employer-sponsored function;

whether the conduct occurred during work hours;

the severity of the alleged outside-of-work conduct;

the work relationship of the complainant and alleged harasser, which includes whether the alleged harasser is a supervisor and whether the alleged harasser and complainant come into contact with one another on the job;

whether the conduct adversely affected the terms and conditions of the complainant’s employment or

impacted the complainant’s work environment.

To minimize the risk of liability, employers should be proactive in creating a harassment-free workplace and culture, and raise awareness about the responsibilities supervisors have in responding to inappropriate conduct. Employers can do this by conducting anti-harassment training and by distributing the company’s harassment policy. Distributing the company’s harassment policy isn’t just good practice, it’s the law. Massachusetts requires that employers with six or more employees not only have a sexual harassment policy and give it out to new employees when they start work, but also that an individual copy be distributed to each employee annually.

An employer’s commitment to prohibiting harassment extends to employer sponsored gatherings, including holiday parties where alcohol is served. When planning such events, consider reminding employees of their obligations with regard to harassment in advance, and limiting alcohol consumption through strategies such as using trained professional servers.